Curriculum Topic: Group Activity
Activity Type: Healthy Birth Practice 1, Pregnancy
Time Needed: 30 min with discussion
Supplies: Bag filled with the following suggested props:
SAFE (with guidelines):
• Toy airplane (discuss travel)
• Tylenol (“safe” medications)
• Romance Linen Spray (sex)
• Artificial sweetener package
• Hair coloring box or ad
• Small package of coffee (caffeine)
• Picture of hot tub (add caption “water less than 100°/ten minutes”)
• Bottle of water (better than soda)
• Paint brush
• Coffee cup (discuss quantity!)
• Toy fish
NOT SAFE:
• Ashtray or ad for cigarettes
• “Airline” bottle of alcohol or wine label
• Mega-dose vitamins
• NyQuil (OTC not recommended)
• St. John’s Wort (herbals not recommended)
• A white powder (cocaine, street drugs)
• Cat litter
• Douche
Instructions:
Pass a bag filled with various symbols for both healthy and unhealthy items for students to “grab.” Ask the student to guess what the symbol they took represents. For each item, discuss the risks, benefits, and recommended limits while pregnant or breastfeeding.
Talking Points:
Pregnant women and their partners are sometimes overly fearful about harming their baby during pregnancy. Educators should balance information about potentially dangerous substances with reassurance about substances and activities that are considered safe during pregnancy (e.g. airplane flights, small amounts of caffeine, etc.). However, in spite of warnings which are repeated loudly and often, some babies are born with problems that could have been prevented. Poor nutrition and substance abuse cross every boundary of culture and socioeconomic class. There is growing evidence that the environment in the womb, including the influences of prenatal nutrition, may impact the health of the developing fetus for a lifetime.
Educators must continue to emphasize the potential hazards of an unhealthy diet, alcohol consumption, and tobacco and drug use (including opioids).
DISCUSSION POINTS
- Because no safe limit for alcohol use during pregnancy has been established, experts such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), and the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SGOC) recommend that women who are pregnant and women who might become pregnant should abstain from all alcohol. Heavy drinking and especially binge drinking (5 or more drinks in one sitting) are associated with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.
- It has been estimated that 10% of all pregnant women continue to smoke during the last 3 months of pregnancy. Research indicates that even five cigarettes a day are considered harmful to a growing fetus, and the risk increases with heavier smoking.
- For ideal safety, no drugs should be used during pregnancy unless prescribed by a physician or midwife who is knowledgeable about the pregnancy. In the case of some medications, the benefit/risk factor is in their favor, to prevent severe symptoms.
- Toxoplasmosis can be spread by the feces of outdoor cats. It can be contracted by gardening where cats have been, as well as by litter boxes.
- Discuss healthy foods to enjoy and not-so-healthy substances to avoid during pregnancy. Unpasteurized cheese, raw meat, fish, shellfish, and eggs may carry harmful bacteria. Large fish may contain high levels of mercury.
- For up-to-date information about the Zika virus and other illnesses transmitted by mosquitos, visit the CDC website.
- For additional information, read "Do’s and Don’ts: Rules to Follow and Which to Bend” by Joel M. Evans.
Reference: Adapted from the Lamaze Toolkit; Teri Shilling, MS, CD(DONA), BDT(DONA), IBCLC, LCCE, FACCE
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